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Paisley-born Brian O'Neil was a product of Celtic Boys Club who sadly was never able to live up to the promise of his early career.

A member of the Scotland team that reached the final of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 1989, O'Neil was initially a cultured midfielder who possesed good vision and an excellent range of passes.

His performances at youth and reserve level singled him out as a future all time great Celt. But a series of factors combined which ultimately stiffled the development of O'Neil's undoubted talent.

After impressing in pre-season friendlies O'Neil was given his first team debut in a 4-1 league victory over Falkirk on August 17th 1991. The youngster impressed in an otherwise poor Celtic side and he soon became an established member of manager Liam Brady's team.

However O'Neil's development undoubtedly suffered from playing in a struggling Celtic team and as one poor result followed another the player's confidence undoubtedly took a turn for the worse. He did score a last minute winner against Rangers at Ibrox on October 30th 1993 but on the whole these were not happy days for the Bhoys or O'Neil. Certainly he found it difficult to live up to the high expectations his early performances had instilled among a demanding and frustrated support.

Following the dissappointing reigns of Brady and Lou Macari, O'Neil finally began to regain his form under new boss Tommy Burns. Now used as a ball playing centre-half, O'Neil impressed once more as Celtic began to re-establish themselves as a major force, and one which played excellent football.

Disaster struck though when O'Neil suffered a serious knee injury. He missed the 1995 Scottish Cup final triumph and in truth he would never be the same player again. Despite the player's hard work a once promising Celtic career pettered out and after an unsuccesful loan spell with injury O'Neil joined Aberdeen in 1997.

He went on to enjoy spells at Wolfsburg in Germany, Derby and Preston and collected seven Scotland caps during his career. O'Neil was far from a failiure as a footballer but through no fault of his own his career never reached the dizzy heights it should have done.